Tag Archives: Dandelion

I’m tempted to make a Dande”lyin” pun because of my first experience with the Dandelion food cart. I’ll admit it, last summer when we began our food cart adventure I went to Dandelion with every intention of reviewing, but never did. I took Marie with me because who doesn’t love to share a good vegetarian meal? She ordered the baked tofu sandwich and I got the sweet potato wrap with spinach and smoked Gouda. It came with a side of tortilla chips and pico.

Sweet potato wrap with smoked gouda and a side of chips and pico.

As we sat next to Library Mall and took our first bites, I was in smoked Gouda bliss. But then Marie turned to me and made those eyes girlfriends make when they want you to switch food with them. Turns out her “baked” tofu was definitely fried*. She was not interested in ruining her obsessively healthy food habits with a fried tofu sandwich. Luckily, I can get down with fried tofu and so we made the trade. Lesson learned: menus aren’t always what they seem. Second lesson learned: just because it’s vegetarian, doesn’t mean it’s healthy. (Editors note: the tofu at Dandelion is never fried. Marie was mistaken!)

*On my return my visit, I saw someone order the tofu sandwich and it was baked. Not sure why we got a fried sandwich.

So, last week, I made the trek (well, I live a block away, but you get the picture) back to Dandelion to break some baked tofu boundaries. I went with one of the daily specials: Indonesian tempeh tacos. Tempeh is an Indonesian soy product that’s comparable to tofu but higher in protein and denser in weight.

Meal of the day! Tempeh tacos with tasty coleslaw on the side. (Best when INSIDE the taco)

I have this weird love for high protein foods; so, while some people cringe at things like tofu or spoonfuls of garbanzo beans, I can’t get enough. My tacos were stuffed with tempeh in a savory, chipotle sauce and there was an Asian coleslaw on the side. Three corn tortillas hugged the tempeh, which wasn’t flavorful, but when you took a bite with the sauce it was BAM, delicious. I forgot a fork, so I ended up hand spooning the coleslaw on top of the tacos which was a cool, maverick way to eat my lunch.

Behold, the cart.

Everything on the Dandelion menu is either vegetarian or vegan and you can ask to have any of the dishes vegan. Everything is around or under $8 – pretty standard for food cart fare. Unfortunately, (or fortunately, depending on who you are) they only have “real sugar” sodas and all I wanted/needed was a Diet Coke. It seems my caffeine needs are a little too mainstream for Dandelion.

It was a later lunch so time wasn’t really an issue, but there was only one person manning the cart so it’s not the FAST FOOD cart that others can be. Depending on the day, more than worker helps out – so keep an eye out.